City mops up after second tornado

BIRMINGHAM families were mopping up today as a SECOND tornado and flash floods brought the city to a standstill.

BIRMINGHAM families were mopping up today as a SECOND tornado and flash floods brought the city to a standstill.

The twister ripped the roof off a house in Passey Road, Moseley - less than a mile from where July's freak weather wrought havoc.

Firefighters were stretched across the city as homes flooded and motorists were stranded in torrents as roads turned to rivers.

One driver was rescued from his car seconds before it was washed down the River Rea in Northfield.

Commuters sat in traffic jams for hours as the city's main roads ground to a halt - Birmingham once again under siege from the elements.

The Met Office reported over half the normal rainfall for October falling in just six hours yesterday, between 4pm and 10pm. Just under an inch of rain fell in one hour alone.

"It's the kind of thing you normally see with summer thunder storms," said a Met Office spokeswoman.

Mohammed Saleem returned to his Passey Road home in Moseley to find the roof crumpled in a heap in the road.

"When I came back I saw it. There was debris everywhere. I was shocked it had happened again," he said.

His wife, four children and disabled mother have been forced to stay with his brother overnight.

"The upstairs of the house is gutted completely and water is coming in downstairs," he said.

Nearby Springfield Primary School also had tiles taken off the roof and suffered flooding.

Northfield firefighters were called to The Mill Walk in Northfield by a homeowner who looked out of his window to see a car stuck in the nearby ford.

"The water was about two-and-a-half feet deep and it was hammering into the wings of the car," said station officer Pete Baker.

The driver, a man in his 40s, was stranded after his Honda Civic stalled in the ford at about 6.30pm.

"We fixed a rope along the walkway next to the ford and two of our officers, wearing life jackets, edged their way across to him," said Mr Baker. "When they reached the car, the driver wound down his window and our men carried him to safety. We then watched as the car was washed down the river."

The driver of another car and her passenger, both in their 20s, had to be pushed clear after stalling in a three-foot flash flood in Vincent Drive, Bournbrook.

Traffic was backed up throughout the city as the storm coincided with rush hour commuting. All three lanes of the Aston Expressway into the city were backed up all the way to the M6.

The tunnel at St Chad's Queensway was still closed this morning after the road disappeared under water from about 5.30pm.

One motorist reported sitting in traffic for over an hour while making the one-mile journey from the Edgbaston cricket ground to Moseley.

"The road was literally turned into a lake," he said. "I could barely see out of the windscreen with the rain lashing down - the traffic was horrendous."

Handsworth firefighters came to the rescue of nuns at St Mary's Convent in Hunter's Road, Lozells, as water threatened to swamp the building.

"Water was running down a slop towards the door," said sub officer Andy Secker. "We fetched sandbags from a nearby council depot and managed to divert the flow."

A newly built block of city centre luxury flats in St Martin's Gate, Worcester Street, near the Bullring, suffered flooding after rain burst through a flat roof into a corridor.

The full impact of the storm is still being felt today, with the closure of Chandos Primary and Chandos Nursery School in Vaughton Street South, Highgate, due to flooding.

Problems were also witnessed further afield, with the fire service inundated with calls across the Black Country. In West Bromwich, Navigation Lane and Hatherton Lane were badly affected while roads in Stourbridge, including Worcester Street and Pedmore Road, suffered flooding.

A West Midlands Fire Service spokeswoman said: "The majority of incidents involved flooded roads and unfortunately there isn't a great deal we can do as there is nowhere for us to pump the water to.

"While there were calls from the Black Country, Birmingham was clearly affected badly, with the city centre left gridlocked."

* Were you caught up in the tornado or were you at the centre of the dramatic car rescue? Ring Andy Shipley on 0121 234 5235.